let's do an UPCAT post!

(So. Ten years ago on this same weekend, I took an exam that changed my life.)

First weekends of August are special, especially for high school seniors, if only for the fact that on this weekend, the University of the Philippines opens its doors and gives its prospective freshmen a sneak peek of what it's like to be here -- yep, it's the weekend of the UP College Admission Test, the Holy Grail (LOL) of all college admissions tests in the Philippines.

On this weekend, thousands of hopefuls troop to the University to take the exam - which can only be taken once and never again. Last year, there were around 67,000 examinees. Re-reading the requirements and general UPCAT FAQ over at the website makes me feel nervous all over again LOL.


In August 2000, (I think I took it on a Sunday?) I woke up really early so we could leave Cavite early and arrive in Quezon City in time for the exam. I think we left at 4. I took it at the Business Administration building. I remember bringing with me those tinkywinkies, remember those really really small oreos that were such a fad back then? Yep. It was a chilly classroom and I was all nerves, yes, but I do remember thinking about the Ateneo and how I was just taking the UPCAT because my parents wanted me to take it but in the end I was really hoping I could get a scholarship to get into Ateneo.

(Sidenote: Earlier, I took the ACET to qualify for the AJSS - which I passed, surprisingly (LOL that still baffles me), so that meant there was technically no need for me to retake the ACET in September 2000. I retook the ACET anyway, ostensibly to improve my records but damn their Math part was HARD. LOL. I think I would've been required to take remedial Math had I decided to push through with it.)

ANYWAY. The UPCAT was a five-hour exam and by the time I was done (having shotgunned through some items, admittedly) my head felt like liquid. LOL. Added to the fact that the traffic was horrible and the place, oh my God, the place it was so huge and frightening, and surely my parents couldn't be so heartless to send me to a place this faraway and BIG?

Dundundun. We all know what happened -- I didn't get a scholarship, my dad gave me a heart-to-heart and told me he can't send me to a school that cost that much. When I learned I passed the UPCAT, it felt a lot like my heart falling out -- I wanted to go to the Ateneo so hard -- and I remember just being so scared. What's a girl like me - horribly sheltered, horribly conyo - supposed to do in a place that huge, that strange, that frightening?

LOL, looking back, I'm just like -- thank goodness! What the fuck was I thinking?

(And before anyone else brings it up -- no, I wasn't aware that the Maroons were that horrible in basketball. Yet.)

We all know what happened. I got into Mass Comm, I made a lot of fantastic friends, I knew myself better, I learned a lot of things, I picked up a few vices and got involved in a horde of stuff, some of which I can't even put into words even after so many years.

As we say -- the rest is history. And what a fucking great history it was.